aging nickel hardware???

hi guys,

i wanted to know if there is a quick way to make my nickel harware look "aged", u know how it kinda goes dull, my bridge pickup cover and the top of my bridge has already started fading...

but i wanted to know if there was anyway i could get both pickup covers, my tailpiece and bridge to have this fading all over coz i really like the look of it when its dull, i dont like shiny things much...


any advice on this would be much appreciated



Dave

I think perhaps the relic'ers out there use muriatic acid fumes to do age hardware. I think you can pick this stuff up at a hardware store as brick cleaner.

Muriatic acid is extremely dangerous, I'd strongly advise against it.

A mixture of strong bleach (the kind for cleaning toilets, not clothes) with a touch of white vinegar (wear rubber gloves & keep the windows open!) should do it. Get out of the room & leave it to work overnight.

You may want to give the parts a good long shake in a container with nuts, bolts, washers & screws etc. first to add to the worn appearance, this also gives the bleach a 'key' to get through the shiny finish more esily. Open & check periodically, but experience shows you'll need to keep at it for at least a 1/2 hour, prolly a while longer :-?

I suggest you do the shaking when everyone else is out, as it makes a really god-awful racket, & any family members almost certianly won't understand, & will prolly think you're mad ( - maybe even try to get you certified.... hehe) :roll:

Good luck!

Reply to similar question I wrote for Guitar Reranch.

Question: Is there an accepted method for "DIY relic'ers" to age nickel hardware? I believe I saw a recipe for a solution on this board before. Thanks for the help.

Here is some information on dulling nickel parts. This will not work on chrome. USE AT YOUR OWN RISK.

I have experience aging nickel parts using both muratic acid and a liquid called Etchant Solution. Muratic acid is available from hardware stores. Etchant Solution from Radio Shack. Both are about $4.

I don't recommend using muriatic acid becaue it is really unsafe in my opinion. So I will only talk about echtant solution. The fumes are not as caustic as muratic acid and the odor is near nill. Still, however, use rubber gloves and protect your skin and eyes.

When using Etchant Solution the part you are doing needs to be absolutely grease free!! The effect will get screwed up if you have body oil or grease on it anywhere. Most people use naptha to clean the part to ensure there is no oil or grease on it. Do not touch it with your bare hands once you have cleaned it!! If you do you will be able to see your fingerprints on the part after it is aged and there seems to be no cure for this.

Here is the easiest way to use etchant solution. The trick is you have to suspend the part completely in the solution all at the same time so that it ages it all the same. For example, you don't want to stick one end of a tailpiece in and then turn it around and do the other end. For small parts you can just suspend the part from a wire into the solution.

For large parts such as a tailpiece here is one suggestion. Get a plastic container say 5" inches around. Get another plastic container let's say 4" around that will sit inside of the larger one and is still big enough to hold the part that you want to age. The smaller container you put inside with the part needs to have a bunch of holes drilled into it so that the solution will drain back into the larger container when you go to take the smaller container with the part in it out of the bigger one.

Fill the bigger container with maybe two inches of Etchant Solution. Put the part into the smaller conainer with holes in it and then put the smaller container with the part into the bigger one with the Etchant Solution in it. The solution will come in the holes.

Etchant will work very quickly. You may literally only need 10-15 seconds to knock off the shine and make a part look 40 years old. In fact I aged some new nickel tuner ferrules a couple weeks ago and I held each in the solution for 15 seconds. They came out looking exactly like the original ferrules on my 64' Strat after just that amount of time. Pretty amazing actually.

Stick the part in and count the seconds and then pull it out to see if it is dulled enough. If not stick it back in for another 15 seconds or so, but keep track of your time as you cannot leave it in for too long and too long in my experience is over two minutes.

In my hard learned experience exposing parts to Etchant for more than a couple minutes will eat the nickel off and expose the copper underneath so you must pay attention to what you are doing.

Lift the smaller container out slowly allowing the Etchant Solution to drain off the part and back into the larger container.

When you have aged a part to your taste stick it in a bowl of soapy water to stop the reaction. Then wash the part off with water.

Again the piece must be nickel and must not have any body oil or grease on it.

If you try the toilet cleaner method be very careful as it is actually diluted Hydrechloric Acid and will remove the finish from the item altogether.I found out the hard way (don't ask). Do it outside and have a basin of water to wash the item in straight away.

Basically, it's potentially dangerous to both you and the guitar if you don't know what you're doing. I'm surprised nobody has mentioned the best way to age your guitar yet. Works every time, very easily done and looks bloody brilliant.

Play the sh** out of it.

Paladin2019 said:

Basically, it's potentially dangerous to both you and the guitar if you don't know what you're doing.

Click to expand...

Ooops you are correct I did foget to mention that you should take the part off your guitar.

:lol:

DO NOT MIX BLEACH WITH VINEGAR, TOILET BOWL CLEANER, OR AMMONIA. The combination of bleach with any of these substances produces a toxic gas which can be hazardous!!!!
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
something tells me i wont be trying out this method!!!!!!!

Jim thanks for your guide that seems to be fairly straight forward....

i think i am gonna do this to my guitar coz i cant stand how shiny the hardware is i much prefer the dull look...

and anyway if things do go wrong it isnt that much to purchase a new tailpiece/bridge pickup cover etc etc

Paladin your right about that but i have no patience!!!

it has started dulling on the bridge and the top of the bridge pickup cover already but its gonna take forever for all the shiny parts to go dull....

so im gonna get a hold of some etchant solution and give it a bash...

thanks for the input guys u have been a great help.

From Dave

P.S. what would happen if i were to just rub the pickup covers lightly with wire wool or fine emery paper wouldnt that give a similar effect????

I know people that have done that.

Looks like tailpiece that's been rubbed with fine steel wool or emery cloth.

If all else fails just buy a pre-aged one from RS.

http://www.rsguitarworks.net/catalog/images/agednickel.jpg

$40 for a lighteweight one.

You could always just play the living hell out of the guitar and age things the old fashioned way.

Jim